The display of data in a simple, logical and convenient form is a constant challenge as data processing systems continue to develop in complexity and as the amount of data presented increases. One approach to data presentation has been to display only the data requested and allow any deriving information to be suppressed. For example, if one desires to see a financial valuation balance, an application program may display the balance but the individual elements of the balance, such as cash available, values of investments, inventory, and the value of accounts receivable may be displayed on another display page that a developer or an application user must summon to view. Often, this request to see the underlying deriving data results in the user changing display windows and requires some level of mental agility to correlate data while swapping screens between data display views. There are many examples of applications where a desire to see data underlying the results on one window necessitates switching to another window. One such application is present in a software development environment where a debugger program is used to test code for new software.
Debuggers are software utilities that are commonly used to develop and test software by invoking a powerful tool that allows program developers to observe the run-time behavior of their programs to determine the location and characteristics of semantic errors. One common task that is performed while debugging is checking the value of variables. Commonly, a developer must stop his program at a break point, switch to a tool such as a watch window or other type of viewer and type in a variable name to uncover the value of a variable. This action may be cumbersome in some circumstances.
Microsoft® Visual C++ 4.0, available from Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Wash. 98052, utilizes a feature called data tips to provide easy access to variable values. The data tips feature was inspired by the tool tips popularized by other Microsoft® products such as Microsoft Office™. Data tips are a convenient feature that allows a developer to see the value of a variable, data structure, and expression in source code simply by moving a mouse cursor or other user pointing device over the variable in the source code. This can avoid the cumbersome activity of switching between windows or display screens to view data already in the application.
Currently, when debugging an application, the user may hover a mouse or other pointing mechanism over a variable name to read the expression under the cursor. The debugger then attempts to evaluate it and a data tip appears with the expression and a single line indicating the value. When the user moves the mouse far enough away, or pauses for 60 seconds, the data tip automatically disappears. This makes it quick and easy for a user to examine the status of his program without restoring to excessive window manipulation and/or typing. Although the data tips implementation in debugger programs is useful, it falls short of true interactive capability.
It is commonly believed that much of the functionality of a debugger is underutilized due to complexity. If the debugger functionality were brought closer to the user through the use of interactive data tips, then the user experience could be enhanced. The editor function is believed to be the area where most developers spend large amounts of time. Also, data tips are one of most frequently used and easily understood debugger tools. If data tips were enhanced to provide interactive capabilities, then an enhanced data tips feature may improve the software development cycle time as well as improve user interaction.
Thus, there is a need for a method and system which can efficiently perform both examination and editing tasks for objects such as variables in a software development system to reduce software development cycle time and enhance user interaction. The present invention addresses the aforementioned needs and solves them with additional advantages as expressed herein.